Frank gray



(No Model.)

F.- GRAY.

i FIRE EXTINGUISHER. No. 307,456. Patented Nov. 4, 1884.-

v in the claims.y

F UNI'VI-n'1o?I `.SrliTas.v

PATENT OFFICE l "FRAN-K GRAY, QF NEW YORK; u-Y.

' sPEoIFicATIoN forming-part 'of Letters Patent 15in.` 307,456, datedNovember 4, 1:3194.y 1 y "ipplimibg'ninmi,29,13a; (Nqmgaubj: y j

yTo jwkom/ it may' conc-em: Beit known ,that 1ERANK GRAY, ofthe cityofNew York, in the-county and State of New York, hayejinvented' a Inewand us efu1 5 Method olf-and Apparatus for the Automatic Extinguishmentof 'Eires'in Buildings, which 1 invention or. improvement is ,fully setlforth and illustrated in the following.,.speci,iication' andaccompanying drawings.y r f ,-1 -l The object of this invention is to,yprovide a simple and `eiiici-ent means ,fory the 'autel'nadienvextinguishment ofjfire's, particularly inbuildi ings such as mills,factories, warehouses, and other .structures v contain ing-` much,kcombustir 5 -ble materiah orwhich .forany-reason- Imay be more or lesseizposedftodestruction,byiiregv Theinvention consi-sts, broadly, initheeinployment of .acolumnoi' compressed air with- .in afpipeor pipes,which ,air closes afwaterz'o check valve pressed. upon Iits ,oppositeside; `by a column of .watenoxa head sufficient to' reach any desiredheight, anair-seal oi' fusible metal being provided', sothat whenthe'imprisonedair is' releasedlby the'fusion of1 said .seal 25 thewaterA under its own headforgpressure opens said oheck-valveiand isforced* through' an extinguishingfpipe, ybut not throughsaid air pipe.or pipes, into -a'certain areaof the` surrounding space. 'l ,1 .Theinventionalso .consists in certain de tails of -constructionandarrangement, here# inafter particularlydeseribed, andset forth 2 :Intheaccompany" 'g drawings,'. Figure `l- 5 5 shows i/n elevation-a general..view of the ar rangement ofthe pipes :findfvalvesv of an apparatusembodyingthe principle' of this invention, iitted for supplying. onelevel 'or floor of ra building,` ,a-,compressione pump .bei-ng l'f4.0Ash'ov'vn attached to" 'said apparatus', Fig.v 2 1 shows'in plan' theextinguishing-pipe illustrated in Fig. 1 as'laidalong'the (nailing,voffa building, and-having anumber of, "discharg-l i-ng or sprinklingoritides placed at intervals cal section ofthe compnessionpumpand wai 1'terahegk.vaivesnownfin Fig., 1li-Fig 4isa I It-I-l'lllf F 4 15minA its.right-hand'side, showi.

ingthe air-releasing Valveseated and heldto its seatloy asolderedjoint.l Fig. 6 is a view in plan yof the deviee .il1,1 1`st r ated"-' inFigs 4 In said figures, the letter A'indicates 'an aircompressionp-ump;a, its handle `b, its rod,.and C its valve,- openingv downward. f Below.said pump-is the eompressionfehamber B,prov1d ed' .with inlet or'air-check valveQangoutlet- -D. Belowsaid valvmD is. the main .water-.

having-a ,sufficient head, such as a eityfmain voran. eleyated tank...lThe lower diskfei the" valve D; laps the porti?, so'tha't r,no'watercan flow beyond lsaid Valve u ntilit uncovers said 'port byrising. Thev pipe. E isled thence j l beyond the port F, and dischargesinto vthe 7o .,'extinguishingfpipe G, provided with the e.A leasing and*dischargin'g;k device H,.l1ei'einafterf described.-` 'lhesair-pipe d, of.small bores-f"y ,one'eighthofsan inch .only ein diameter is usuallysuiiieient-is led', fro'mj'the ai'reorn-A 75 pression-chamber B uptoeach of the reloas; ing and discharging devices H, uni-tiugwiththem -ina socket-.or -tube,g,-by whichl thel-ine of pipedv is made eontinuoyuslSaidsocket 1s" providedwitha valve-seau@ andafvalve, k', 80

is fitted thereto, its armjilbeiug soldered to'A i the lugj of thedev-ide orelbow-pipe H, and'y thus said valve isfs'ecuredin its seat aslong; as said solderremainsintaot. 'f The lowerv ofthe elbowH isclosedr-by a disk or vvalve v85v K, held upto its-'seat bythe'yoke Z, whlehfis4.suspended upon thestem of ,thevalve h.

-. The .solder used for` the-.joint 'cg is made of: l any of.. the knownalloys which fuseat; a temfperature, say, from aboveio. Fahrenheit 9e`'a .temperature not'above '6009, vsogasto insureits fusion upontheoccurrence ofarise of tein` peraturecaused yby, even 'ak slight firewithin;

. its proximity..

The complete ope as follows: The'availablegh'ead 'or'pressure ofthewater bein@ determinedgf-the 'air is Icom'- pressedbythe-action ofthe' pump Auntil the pressurefgage M, vprovidedffor the .p urpose,indicates an air-pressure'in the' compressionreo chamber B and tube dsuliicient'fto retain the water-check valve B securely Aclosed Qvertlie''j pipe, (Landa-water-checkvalve or piston, v

rati-on of this 'apparatus is 9'5- port F. V'lhi's is all that isrequired in Order been any escape or leakage of air is all the at'ltention the apparatus requires. Now, should a fire occur within anyapartment or room through which the extinguishing-pipe G is led, andthereby the temperature of any part Yof said room be raised Vto thefusing-point of the solder which forms the soldered joints 13j, at leastone of said joints will immediately fluse. The lpressure of air in thepipe d will consequently blow one of the valves h from its seat, therebyallowing` the imprisoned air, to escapeoutof the pipe d andcompression-chamber B, reducing the 'pressure in said chamber to thatofthe `atmosphere only. This action causes thecolumn of water in thepipe E below-the valve D to instantly raise said valve and rush throughthe port F upto and into 'theextinguishing-pipe G, and thence throughand o'iit of at least .oneof the elbows H past its Valve or disk K' intoand upon the incipient fire. It vwill be observed that as soon as onevalve h is forced fromits seat by the escapingair consequent upon thefusion of a soldered joint the yokel will be released from the steril orhead of the valve h, and thus the disk iK' be dropped into the posit-ionshown in Fig. 4, for the escape of the water. This disk or valve K maybeiitted with any well-4 known form of scattering-plate or sprinkler,for spraying the escapingwater. The soldered joints, all being. abovethe water dis' charged, are free from possible cooling by .leakage andare also nearer the ceiling,where 'thehottest air will accumulate andmore quickly fuse said joints than if they were be- 4low thewater-disch'arge.' Vhere many different oors or levels are tosbe served,a separate compression chamber, an air check valve, d', and Water-checkvalve maybe fitted upon each of said floors, by which arrangement onlythe extinguishing-pipe supplying thed floor upon which a fusible' jointor joints should happen to melt will be filled, the otherextinguishing-pipes .remaining empty until one. ormoreof theirrespective fusible `joints should'inelt; and if it bedesired to'excludethe water even' from the stand-pipe and entire building until a reactually occurs, an additional compression-chamber fitted with a watercheck valve-such as D-and con nected with the Vothers byv a pipe-such asdis all that is required to bedone.

The advantage of excluding thewater from as many 'of the pipesaspossible, aswell as of automatically admitting it when. a' fire occurs.onlyto the extingnishing-pipe ofthe floor or level where suchiireoccurs. .is manifold, 'not only to prevent freezing in thepipes, butalso l .toprevent the deposit of mud or sediment,

wiiiehin the course of time with some waters used would entirely clog upthe pipes or sprinklers, and thus prevent the escape of the `water whenthe fusible'joint was melted by a fire. Another reason, also, is thatwhere, as in some localities, the storage-supply of water is not greatcompared to the/number of ioors to be served, itis advisable toconcentrate the whole source of supply of water into theparticularextinguishing-pipe supplying the floor where the fireoriginates. y

I am aware that fusible joints soldered as. herein described are notnew.

I am also aware that water-check .valves of differential area witharrangements of weights and pass-over valvesoperated by chains withfusible jointed links are in common use,where by the pressure ofthewater is caused to open said valveby the fusing of a soldered link insaid chain, and thus to automatically extinguish fire; but Vin all suolicases the water either constantlylls the extinguishing-pipe, or, ifexcluded, it could not be sprayed or sprinkled upon the fire until atleast two joints had melted-one tolet it into the extinguishing-pipe,and the other to let it out of the same through the sprinkler upon thefire. A

By, the system herein described-entirely novelfwith the fewest andsimplest parts, all the auxiliary parts being very small-under nocircumstances is it required to fuse more than one joint in order toinstantly spray the water upon the fireoccasionin g such fusion.

In carrying out the principle of my inven tion Ido not confine myself tothe special devices of valves or pump shown, as well-known equivalentsmay be substituted for them. It is quite obvious, also, that in case theair-pressure upon the valves h should lfor any reason fail (or if theair-pipes d should be entirely omitted) the dry-pi pe system hereindescribed would simply be transmutedinto a wet-pipe system, wherein thewater would fill the pipes within the building instead of being excludedtherefrom, as hereinbefore described. It is preferable, however, tosuspend the yoke'l exactly IOO as shown in the-drawings, even if thevalve or plug h,-instead of acting as a valve, should be .merely a pinor stem bearing against an imperforate seat instead of against thevalvesscat e, for it will be observed that the taper given to theairvalve or plug his of use in drawing the water-discharge valve K tightto its seat, by said taper acting as a wedge .in elevating the yoke whenthe threaded stem of the valve or plug h, passing through the arm i, isscrewed up, for said plug is thus pressed forward into its seat, and atthe same time by its taper presses upward the yoke zZ, and with it thewaterfdischarge valve K, firmly to its seat.

Having thus fully described my said method l. Ina system ofwater-distributing pipes for the automatic extinguishmen't of lires, an

independent pipe for. conveying compressed air upon a valve vsituatedbetween said air pipe and a waterdistributing pipe'and excluding thewaterand said air fro'm said distribut '307,45e l -s ing-pipe, wherebythe water is admitted to saiddistributing-pipe when the air is'releasedfrom said air-pipe, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In an automatic fire-extinguishing sys tern, in combination with aWater-distributing pipe and a water-supply pipe provided with acheck-valve for excluding both air-pressure and Water from saiddistributing-pipe, an airreleasing and Water-discharging deviceconsisting of an independent air-pressure pipe provided with anair-releasing valve, as h, held closed by a soldered joint fusible at av low temperature and coupled toa Water-dise charge valve, as K,connected with saiddistributing-pipe, whereby tliewater in saidsupply-pipe' is permitted to open said check-valve v and to escape intosaid distributing-pipe and out of said Water-discharge valve by therelease of the air imprisoned in saidair-pipe consequent upon the fusionof said joint, substantiallly as and for the purposes set forth.

'The releasing and discharging device hereinbefoi'e described,`consisting of an elbowpipe provided with an air-releasing Valve andawater-discharge valve coupled together when closed, saidreleasing-valve being held to its seatbya soldered joint situated abovesaid. `dischargevalve, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In an automatic file-extinguishing appau .i a n l ratus, a releasingand discharging device con sisting of an elbow-pipe provided withl awaterdischarge valve coupled by a yoke or linkto a conical steinsea-tedin' aseat upon said pipe, and adj ustably held 4to saidseat inari-arm yse' cured to said pipe by a joint fusible ata low temperature,substantially as and for the pur- Y ter-pressure and discharge such'water while excluding it from said compression-chamber, substantially asand for the purposes-set forth.

6. In an automatic fire-extinguishing apparatus, in combination with apump for compressing air or other gaseous fluid, an air-check valve, aWatercheck valve, and' an air-releasing valve coupledto aWater-discharge valve and secured to itsseat by asolderor alloy forni-Ying a fusible joint, the'whole connected by 'suitable pipes, andoperating substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

- `7. In Ian automatic fireextinguishing appa- A ratus, in lcombinationwith a pump lfor compressing airor other gaseous fiuid, an air- 'checkvalve, and a Water-check valve lor pis-- ton of differential area havingits largest area opposedto the com pressive action of the pump,

whereby said valve is heldclosed byaless air pressure` per square inchagainst agreater y Water-pressure per square inch, 'substantially as andfor the purposes set forth.` i

. FRANK GRAY.

